Obituaries

Maxine L. Coker
1921 - 2007
De Soto

Funeral services for Maxine L. Coker, 85, De Soto, will be at 11 a.m. Wednesday at Ceder Crest Memorial Chapel in De Soto. Burial will follow in De Soto Cemetery.Mrs. Coker died Saturday, Aug. 25, 2007, of pancreatic cancer.She was born Oct. 22, 1921, the daughter of Charles and Essie Oelschlaeger. She grew up in Linwood and graduated from Linwood High School in 1938.She attended Emporia State Teacher's College, and taught at several area schools in Linwood, Lenape, Cedar Junction, De Soto and Kansas City, Kan. She also coached boys and girls basketball at the Sunflower School.Mrs. Coker had also sold real estate for the Mike Hale Co., Ed Patton and J.D. Reece Co., and worked for nine years as a maintenance secretary at the Sunflower Army Ammunition Plant. She was an active member of the Parent Teacher Association, as well as the De Soto United Methodist Church and the Pleasant Hour Club. She also enjoyed square dancing, bowling, traveling, dining out with friends, sewing, embroidery and cross-stitch, decorating and ceramics.She married Lloyd Coker on Jan. 30, 1943 in Riverside, Calif. He preceded her in death.Survivors include two daughters, Loya Lou Beery and husband John of De Soto and Gayla Hougham and husband Bob of Lenexa; three brothers, Paul Oelschlaeger and wife Doris of Eudora, Melvin Oelschlaeger and wife Faye of Branson, Mo., and Vernon Oelschlaeger and wife Edith of Lawrence; three grandchildren, Rhonda Patterson, Holly Taylor-Timi and Haley Hougham; four great-grandchildren, Nicholas, Nathan and Carson Patterson and Kaely Timi; and many nieces and nephews.The family will meet friends from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday at the funeral chapel.The family suggests memorials to Children's Cancer Research Fund, P.O. Box 7006, Albert Lea, MN 56007-8006, or the Parkinson's Foundation of the Heartland, 7800 Foster, Shawnee Mission KS 66204.